You’ll find biscuits topped with sausage patties, poached eggs and smothered with gravy and apple pie omelets stuffed with bacon and cheddar cheese at The Toast Office in Carleton.
The new restaurant at 127701 Maxwell Road is owned and operated by chef Jennifer Gere. It is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Mondays.
After working in the food industry for 39 years, it was Gere’s husband, Douglas, a local builder, who encouraged her to open her own place.
Gere’s sister, Aime LaFleur, helped her come up with the name.
“We were on the phone trying to come up with the name,” Gere said. “I knew I wanted something with toast in it, so we kept trying different names until we came up with The Toast Office.”
To carry out the theme of the restaurant, Gere has decorated the white interior with pictures of toasters.
“There are some pastels, but I wanted the inside to be white,” she said. “It’s a clean look and having everything look clean and be clean is very important to me.”
Gere arrives at the restaurant at 4:30 a.m. to be ready to open at 7. She prepares orders using her own recipes, serving breakfast and lunch options.
She said her scramble plates and benedicts are popular with customers.
“We have three different benedicts, the traditional, a country benedict served with sausage patties, two poached eggs on biscuits with homemade sausage gravy, and a corned beef hash benedict with two poached eggs and corned beef on biscuits with hollandaise sauce.”
Other breakfast options include pancakes, French toast and a variety of omelets. Lunch items include sandwiches, burgers and sliders like beef, fried or BBQ chicken.
“My chicken cordon bleu wrap is something on the menu that you won’t find anywhere else,” she said.
The wrap is made with fried chicken, ham, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and Italian aioli.
“We also serve a country poutine,” she said. “Fries smothered in sausage gravy and topped with shredded cheese and green onions.”
She says she wants to work with farmers and growers to purchase eggs and fresh produce locally.
Currently, Gere is only serving breakfast and lunch but plans to offer take-out dinners.
She will post dinner details on the business’s Facebook page so customers can place orders for pick up.
Since opening on March 3, Gere said business has been steady with customers standing in line for a table on Saturdays and Sundays.
Her future business goals include opening a second location in possibly Ida or Maybee and being involved with the community.
“The restaurant is unique We play music from the 50s and 60s and we already have regulars,” Gere added. “It’s a happy place. What I enjoy most is making people happy.”
— Contact reporter Lisa Vidaurri-Bowling at lvidaurribowling@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: ‘The Toast Office’ brings unique breakfast to Carleton
Reporting by Lisa Vidaurri Bowling, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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